Isis

This morning, T-Mobile announced that a new update for the Galaxy S2 would include support for Isis, the mobile wallet app that they have teamed with AT&T and Verizon to create. For months, Isis news had cooled, but today is apparently the day for it all to come out. Bloomberg is reporting that Isis’ CEO has said that they are planning for a launch in their first markets, Austin, TX and Salt Lake City, next month. This is technically a delay, but the slow rollout has to do with a change in approach from having carriers process payments to putting that side of the business on the credit card companies. (more…)

Is Isis, the mobile payment joint venture between Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, finally ready for prime time? According to a changelog for a new software update that is headed to T-Mobile’s Galaxy S2, it may very well be. For those not familiar, Isis is an NFC-based mobile payment system that 3 of the 4 major U.S. wireless carriers (Sprint excluded) partnered up to create. It’s essentially the reason that Google Wallet won’t work on any of your phones. (more…)

Ready for mobile payment systems to take off and become a major part of your life? If today’s newly formed Mobile Payments Committee can come together and establish policy and develop a business strategy for the industry, you should start to prepare yourselves for them to be. According to a report out of VentureBeat, the four major U.S. carriers – Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T – have joined together, along with Google, Isis, Paypal, Verifone, and Intuit, to create the previously mentioned MPC.

This doesn’t mean for a second that Google Wallet is all of a sudden going to be available on all carriers, but it does mean that key players in the industry are starting to realize that they can’t do this alone. With the help of each other, they can establish business relationships that will drive the mobile payment industry forward, work with policy makers to set up industry standards, and most importantly, teach consumers about the benefits of paying with phones.

I just hope this committee actually does something, unlike the Android Alliance. Mobile payments have been around for far too long to not have become mainstream yet. Let’s do it, MPC.

Reports show that Sprint is looking to create their very own mobile payments system for customers, so what is the future of Google Wallet? According to sources, Sprint is reaching out to banks and other service providers to create a service to equal that of ISIS. At this time, Sprint is the only carrier to pre-load Wallet on their devices, but Google seems to continually work and build on the service, as if they have other plans. (more…)

Isis Mobile Wallet will launch this summer in two test cities: Austin, TX and Salt Lake City, Utah. When that happens, owners of NFC-enabled phones in those cities will have “hundreds” of merchants to choose from that will take advantage of this new mobile payment option. As a service backed by Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, Isis is going to be the payment option of the future – today’s released list is evidence of that. (more…)

According to a report out of Bloomberg, Google is considering sharing revenue from Google Wallet with Verizon and AT&T to get them to adopt the mobile payment service. As you all know, AT&T and Big Red have essentially blocked Wallet from their NFC-equipped phones, as they ready a similar mobile payment solution named Isis. Sources who spoke with Bloomberg claim that the adoption rate has been slow enough that Google is re-evaluating the service. With carriers reportedly finding no incentive to allow Wallet on their network, especially with Isis on the way, this could be one of Google’s only moves. So far, Sprint is the single major carrier in the U.S. to allow Google Wallet to be used. A Verizon spokesperson said that they are “continuing our commercial discussions with Google on this issue.”

On a related note, an “independent” consultant mentioned that reception to Wallet has been “lukewarm” so far. All I can say to that is, “Of course it has been. It’s only available on one phone and one carrier, silly.” It’s pretty tough for a product to take off when it has been shutdown by America’s two biggest carriers and can only be accessed by a select few customers. Before other consultants spout off such insightful comments, why don’t we give it a real chance. That real chance of course, is with Verizon and AT&T on board.

Google Wallet competitor Isis, made a showing at SXSW recently and demoed its application for people. Isis is the mobile payment system that almost ever carrier is behind except for Sprint. The company is touting their easy-to-use interface at SXSW and showing how to add credit cards, loyalty cards and deals all from the same app. (more…)

Above is the first shot at what we can expect Isis to look like on our Android devices. Looking past the Froyo notification bar, we see a simple layout of your synced credit cards, an “Isis Feed” which is most likely a payment history page, a shopping directory, and a settings button. So far, we are fans of dark and minimal approach with the purple accents. What are you thoughts on the first look at Isis?

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